Though times were tough in 2010, that hasn’t stopped Mt. Diablo High football coach Jerry Reese from maintaining a positive attitude as his team readies for 2011.

“We have a lot more players committed and believing in the system,” Reese said. “Having some success in the summer in passing leagues brought a whole other dynamic and a winning attitude to the workouts this summer.”

Last year’s struggles didn’t seem to affect Reese’s charges once summer hit. The team played well at various camps, even making a final to play against De La Salle.

And, Reese said that having a summer under his belt has made a big difference from a coaching perspective. Having been with the players all offseason, he said the expectation is players will be much better prepared for games this time around.

Having watched them all summer, Reese praised his skill position players as being the team’s strongest unit coming into the season. Receivers Danny Lee and Nick Sloss return, along with multipurpose threat Jeremiah Robinson.

Robinson will actually see some time under center, joining sophomore Austin Hunt in a two-quarterback rotation. Reese said Hunt has shown good ability to read defenses, while Robinson is the more athletic and stronger-armed of the two.

Neither will get a chance to shine if the Red Devils can’t find some beef up front, and Reese said the main focus as school begins is to find an offensive line. If that happens, then the second-year coach feels like the team will be much more competitive than 2010.

“I think we almost can play with anybody in passing league, but our line is going to be the issue,” Reese said.

As it has been the last few seasons, getting enough players out will be a goal for Reese.

He said the team hovered around 22-23 players in late-summer practices, but also said that participation went up once school began last season. That was the hope as the first bell rang this year. The Red Devils kick off the season Sept. 3 at 2 p.m. at Redwood-Larkspur.